Anti Corruption Bureau stings officer accepting bribe

The Thane Anti Corruption Bureau arrested a Caste Certificate Verification officer on Wednesday for accepting bribe of Rs 10,000 from a tribal

Ashok Dashrath Patare, a caste verification officer posted at the Konkan Bhavan in Thane, was arrested by the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Saturday.

Patare, who as a part of his job checked the authenticity of caste certificates issued to citizens belonging to the SC, ST, OBC, NT categories, accepted a bribe of Rs 35,000 from 53 year-old tribal Chandu Dhanavade in 2008 and demanded an additional Rs 10, 000 last week. On Tuesday, Dhanavade approached Deepak Sakore, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) in ACB and filed an extortion case against Patare. Anjali Andhale, an inspector with the ACB then laid a trap for Patare with the help of Dhanavade and caught him red-handed accepting Rs 5,000, the first installment of the bribe.

"We have arrested Dhanavade and investigation is going on," said Andhale.

Officials also raided Dhanavade's residence and recovered Rs 85,000 cash and 2.7 kg of gold ornaments. The police also seized his computer hard disk and are trying to probe money that Patare may have extorted from others.